Uncle William
The Man Who Was Shif'less
by Jennette Lee 1860–1951
The book, and the century it came out of.
Uncle William is a Maine fisherman who cannot be hurried, cannot be improved, and cannot be persuaded that money matters — and a young painter and the girl he cannot marry are taken in hand by him without ever noticing it. Lee taught English at Smith College; Uncle William was loved by a generation of American readers, and the trick of the book is that the shiftless man is the only one who is not wasting his life. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Lane, Hunt and Homer among them.
TO GERALD STANLEY LEE“Let him sing to meWho sees the watching of the stars above the day,Who hears the singing of the sunriseOn its wayThrough all the night.Let him sing to meWho is the sky-voice, the thunder-lover,Who hears above the winds’ fast flying shroudsThe drifted darkness, the heavenly strife,The singing on…
Uncle William, by Jennette Lee, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.
It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.
- Series
- Literary Classics
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 112 pages
- Reading time
- about 2 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785486586026
60 paintings are bound into this edition
Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.
A page from this edition
Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
Uncle William, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Literary Classics shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.
Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785486586026, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of Uncle William?
- Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
- What exactly did you change?
- The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Jennette Lee's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
- Are the pictures really in the book?
- Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
- How long is it?
- About 112 pages, which is roughly about 2 hours of reading.
- What do I actually get?
- An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
